I had a chaotic morning. I got up very early, ate, washed up and completed the final packing. I descended with my bag, my backpack, and my laptop bag to the bottom where the travel agency is located. There, I left my laptop and bag, and climbed back up to María and Henry's house, the people that watch over the house while it is vacant. I had to give them back the keys, and I did not want to disturb them before 07.30.
After handing off the keys I went straight down to the school where I waited with one of the gardeners (who was very friendly) until everyone else started arriving at the school. I hung out and chatted with a couple of teachers for a bit, we took some photos, and then I had to dash down to the travel agency so that I would not be late for the shuttle.
As it turns out, at the last minute the guy at the agency told me that I needed to take a tuk-tuk to the next town over and wait for the shuttle there, so that the shuttle did not have to deviate as much from the route to Antigua. I asked the tuk-tuk driver to wait around for 20 minutes or so to make sure that the shuttle actually came, so that I had a ride back to San Marcos if anything when wrong. But, the shuttle came, no problems. Well, except for the fact that it was essentially full. This shuttle had seats for about 12 or 13 passangers, and I was stuck up in the front seat sitting (on a seat) where the stick and parking brake are in most four-doors.
So, my head almost touching the roof, and the top of the car piled high with our luggage, we made the trip to Antigua. Because of the heavy raining during the weekend, were landslides, so we had to make a creative route back, so the journey was a bit over 3 hours, but it passed pretty smoothly. The man sitting in the passenger seat was from Chile, and we got along quite well, so our conversations accelerated the trip.
When I arrived in Antigua the complications began: María Elena, in a misunderstanding of substantial proportions, had rented out my former room to a different guest, so I was left without a place to stay. Santiago was (and still is, I believe) feeling quite seriously ill, and so Carmen was considering driving him into the city to see a doctor. I ended up going to the local McDonald's because they have free WiFi and I did not have to eat anything to plop my luggage down in a booth and reconnect myself with the cyberworld. I posted my blogs from San Marcos then, I do not know why the font is small, it looks the same when I am editing the posts, so I do not know how to fix it.
Luckily, a friend of Carmen's mother's knew of a lady who had an available room, so Carmen gave me the woman's telephone number and I gave her a call. Angelica gave me her address and about a half an hour later I showed up on her doorstep, tired and quite desperate. She offered me a little bit of lunch, showed me to the room and has been very kind and warm so far. Obviously, I have internet access here, which is great, and she offers the same meal plan as María Elena: 3 meals Monday-Friday, 2 on Saturday and none on Sunday.
I was able to talk with my Mom and sister this afternoon, which was fantastic. I just finished up dinner, which could have tasted good no matter what was served, but was actually pretty decent: eggs, beans, vegetable, bread and water. I was given a towel, promised breakfast between 08.30 and 09.00, and I am one happy, lucky, camper.
Tomorrow I will figure out my whole schedule with my volunteer work in El Hato, if I should stay here and make the commute to and from the school each day by bus, or if I should move myself up into the mountains. Angelica has been very nice and has told me that I can do whatever works best for me, she has no expectations for me to stay here for any particular length of time.
So, here I am, lying in bed, recently fed, teeth brushed, barely awake although it is just 10.00, very ready for a good night's sleep.
Chao.
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